The White Sox are moving starter Michael Kopech to a bullpen role to begin the 2024 season, general manager Chris Getz announced to reporters on Thursday (X link via Sox Machine’s James Fegan). That’ll further shake up a rotation that suddenly projects to look quite different following last night’s trade sending Dylan Cease to San Diego.
Kopech was once a highly-touted prospect but has struggled to establish himself as a viable big league starter and is now on the cusp of his 28th birthday. Selected by the Red Sox with the 33rd overall pick in 2014, he was a top 100 prospect as he worked his way up the minor league ladder and was a key piece of the 2016 trade that sent Chris Sale to Boston.
The White Sox were surely hoping that Kopech would be a building block of their future rotation and promoted Kopech in August of 2018, but he required Tommy John surgery just about a month later. He missed all of the 2019 season and then sat out the 2020 pandemic season as well. After missing two full years of his development, he pitched primarily in relief in 2021 to build up his workload. He tossed 69 1/3 innings over 44 appearances that year with a solid 3.50 earned run average.
In 2022, he was finally able to secure a rotation gig at the big league level and the results were mixed. On the surface, his 3.54 ERA over 25 starts looked nice, but the numbers under the hood were less encouraging. His 21.3% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate were both a bit worse than league average. He seemed to have had some luck keeping runs off the board thanks to a .223 batting average on balls in play and 74.2% strand rate. His 4.50 FIP and 4.73 SIERA suggested that he may not have been as effective as his ERA implied.
Last year, his luck turned for the worse, as he finished the season with a 5.43 ERA. His control took a concerning blow, as he gave out walks to 15.4% of opponents. He was bumped to the bullpen late in the year but seemed like he had a path to continue starting in 2024. The Sox traded Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito at the deadline last year and then saw Mike Clevinger hit free agency coming into this winter. Rumors swirled around Dylan Cease all winter until he was finally traded to the Padres yesterday.
Despite all of those holes in the rotation, it seems the Sox don’t have much faith in Kopech as a starter at the moment and he’ll wind up in the bullpen. For what it’s worth, he’s allowed six earned run in seven innings this spring, giving out six walks in the process while also hitting two batters. He’s now just two years away from becoming a free agent so perhaps the Sox will give rotation opportunities to younger guys during their current teardown, while perhaps Kopech can turn himself into a trade chip if he can serve as an effective reliever.
Kopech doesn’t seem thrilled with his new assignment. “It’s not my first choice where I want to be,” he said to reporters, including Scott Merkin of MLB.com. “I like starting, but I’ve had success in that role. And ultimately we are looking at what’s best for the team this year. If I can help us win games in the back of the game, I’m excited to do that.”
The Sox have brought in various fresh arms to the system this year, having signed Erick Fedde and Chris Flexen while also trading for Michael Soroka, Jared Shuster, Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte. They got Jake Eder from the Marlins in last year’s Jake Burger trade. Garrett Crochet seems poised to move in the opposite direction to Kopech, jumping from a relief role into the rotation.
For now, the rotation projects to include Fedde, Flexen, Crochet and Soroka in four spots. The club was recently linked to free agent Michael Lorenzen and Clevinger as well, so a late signing could fill out the rotation. As the season rolls along, some guys will get hurt or may end up as trade targets at the deadline. Soroka and Flexen are impending free agents while Fedde is on a two-year deal. If Lorenzen or Clevinger sign, they would presumably be for one- or two-year deals.
As rotation spots open, perhaps Kopech could retake one, but the group of Shuster, Thorpe, Iriarte, Eder and others will be jockeying for auditions. With the club clearly focused on the future, they may be more inclined to give opportunities to those young and controllable guys as opposed to a 28-year-old whose club control is running out.
Really? So sorotka our opening day starter now?
Mike Sirotka is coming out of retirement at the tender age of 52?? Sweet.
Kidding, kidding.
In all seriousness, I’ll be curious to see how Soroka can do. Though, I’m also hearing Erick Fedde’s name being thrown around as ODS.
I saw Soroka pitch a lot last year. He was terrible. Even when he had a few good innings he was always missing location and fooling hitters almost by default because of such surprising places to throw breaking pitches (accidently). I hope he can improve tho. He was called up when he should’ve been in AAA because of need for pitchers and the need to figure out where he stood in future plans. He should’ve been developing in AAA all year
Not a problem. Some AAA clubs may have a credible argument they have a group of 5 that would be more effective.
Soroka was coming back from double Achilles injuries back to back. But yea lil I saw of em, he wasn’t fooling anybody last yr.
Rishi: Sounds like the next Sox ace to me.
Be their fanboy instead of Sox then
Does it really matter who opens the season? This collection of has-beens Getz has accumulated are all on the same level – AA.
Soroka was once in the cy young race and his injuries have most been just with the legs (although recently with that shoulder). So theoretically, you got to think he can bounce back to be at least a solid pitcher. Maybe not cy young lvl but solid as a floor
I remember when this guy got drafted and they talked about him like he was the next coming of Todd Van Poppel
If you compare the early returns for both Kopech and Van Poppel thats probably fairly accurate, though not for the reasons people meant
Mystery: Kopech was awesome in his first start for the Sox. He continued that in his second start but tore his UCL and that was that. He was good when he came back in 2021 after sitting out 2020, but he lost it in a big way the last two seasons. He can’t get anyone out. He needs to find a good pitching coach who can straighten him out and soon.
Man, Kopech has to be one of the five most overrated “prospects” of the past ten years. We were supposed to see the second coming of Bob Feller if you believed all the hype.
Not as much hype as Jay Groome got, though. Its almost like injuries are unpredictable. Who’d a thunk.
Yoan Moncada sitting at the end of the bench with a towel over his head in hopes nobody tosses him in that category.
I thought the “TRADE” was supposed to be a steal for the Chisox.
Sure. What would a Sox season be without another bum arm in the bullpen. As a SP Kopech can’t get out of the first inning, so why not have him come in as a reliever and totally blow leads, if the Sox ever have one.
He may be DFA or non-tender candidate if he can’t sort out his control and homerun issues.
It’s going to be a lost season anyway. Might as well lose as many games as possible.
Avenger
Troll, troll, troll, troll, troll
Nothing but negative comments.
Troll
filihok: Give me something positive about the Sox. With the exception of Robert, Moncada and Eloy, tell me who among this collection of retreads is going to lift the team into being a contender. Tell me wh
Andrew Benintendi would like to object but really can’t. He’s the man who stopped the revolving door in LF and, to date, that’s been his most notable accomplishment.
avenger
“tell me who among this collection of retreads is going to lift the team into being a contender. Tell me wh”
None of them, of course. Because that’s not how baseball works at all.
75% of MLB teams are not contenders every year, So what?
It’s so stupid these comments & these comments can be basically applied to 65% or more of MLB players. Kinda feels good to be the underdog to so many haters, If the top 5 -6 hitters can get it rolling it’ll be a fun year. Those 5-6 has done it before so why now this year especially in AL Central.
While it was a bit much, No, he’s not a troll. Frustration does not mean being a troll, Other teams try to win and make moves to do this, this White Sox org has spent the last 25 years throwing whatever at the wall, at bottom dollar and HOPE they are lucky one year. Well that year was 05, and it apparently convinced the ‘brain trust’ that is the real way to win a WS.. luck into one…
I cannot be positive for an owner that destroyed his own rebuild, and who had a guy in Williams that made a LOT of bad trades and FA moves, only to cede his power to Hahn, and then finding out that KW could make moves over his GMs head (makes me wonder who really made that Shields for Tatis trade…), only for ‘The Chairman’ to then fire everyone for HIS mistake in bringing in LaRussa and then promote a guy to GM that was the last guy standing after the purge (and btw could not even do his job well before being a GM). Now there is ANOTHER rebuild (don’t fool yourself, this is ANOTHER rebuild), which ‘the Chairman’ will probably find a way to ruin again.
Why reward for constant failure?
I have been a fan of the Sox for 34 painful years with the lone bright spot in 05, and the hope of the rebuild bearing fruit after 2020 (only to watch the travesty occur). Ill be more positive once the ownership changes.
But, hey, keep drinking that Kool aid and mindlessly fork over cash to ‘The Chairman’ to get his new stadium built, Maybe they will luck into a playoff appearance to get laughed out of it. THAT will fix everything…
nrd
They are a troll
And if one is so frustrated with their chosen form of entertainment, they should, you know, choose another form of entertainment
I don’t see this helping. He’s a prima donna, yet mentally fragile. Can’t see the “demotion” playing well with him. I would try to move him for something. He needs a new team and fresh start.
He did have much better results as a reliever in ’21.
at this point a fair trade is a guy like Jo Adell. Basically guys that you know have talent, but you have to pray that they just figure “it” out.
the Os have a ton of usable fielders (mateo, urias, ect) that have no home and only marginal value as utility/depth guys…. so that may be another matchup (if you need meh guys who will log big league at bats and not look terrible doing it)
I’ll have a number of Angels fans who disagree, but 2024 SHOULD be a make or break season for Adell. You could say they ruined him by bouncing him between AAA and the majors endlessly over the past several years, but the time is now for him to break out, or it’s hit the road for a change of scenery.
we’ll cut or flip him when we sign jd martinez within the week.
They must feel like the maximum trade value at the deadline is from the bullpen. He’s a FA in 2026, so they’ll prob shop him as a bullpen piece for now and into 2025.
The number of games where the bullpen has to cover 6-8 innings has reduced significantly by this move. The Sox are going to be bad, by all indications. I think it is a wise move to move him back to the bullpen in less high leverage situations and go from there. On really bad teams, there is always the need for a player to be the guy who will eat innings (and also get hit hard in the process) in long relief when the team is getting pounded. He fits right in there.
In a perfect world, he rekindles some better results like in 2021 in the bullpen, and the team will find some trade value as a reliever. He had no trade value as a starter.
But Steve Stone really likes him and Steve Stone is never wrong.
I love that myth.
I can’t wait to hear Schriffen tell us how exciting and fun this move is. “How exciting is it going to be to see Kopech pitch 3-4 times a week. This move is fun. This team is fun.”
Spotswood: Or my favorite: “This is a very good team.” Stoney wisely took the no comment route.
Yeah, once you notice it, it seems to happen frequently. I assume Stone was involved in the hiring process…right?
The only good thing about Benetti being gone is he won’t be on Stone’s nob all day. I love Jason, but his adoration of Stevie boy was a bit much.
Steve Stone is also clairvoyant. There was a local story a couple of years ago about his perceived clairvoyance.
I almost s… myself laughing!!!
If they are 25-50 approaching the deadline, maybe he will have recorded 18 saves and found his destiny as an intriguing closer for contenders.
closers never get that high of a % of saves vs wins. Top teams win 100 games, but no one gets over 50 saves…. so if they eek out 30-45 (still way out of it) he may be lucky in small sample size to have 18 saves.
There really is no one to close games right now, so why not roll the dice on him being able to hold the control together for 1 inning at a time.
cwsOverhaul: 25 wins approaching the deadline? I had them winning 25 games for the season.
What a idiot you roving to be. Can I block you? That would make my seadon
Fangraphs already projecting nick nastrini as 5th starter
I’m on board with that. I was excited when they acquired the kid and he has pitched well this spring. He’s ready for the show.
They’re only doing bullpen games this year
Hard to believe they couldnt find a trade partner, one who is willing to let Kopech start where he has more value.
Sox did good with the Cease trade but I think they have a lot of work left to do.
Kopech’s stuff doesn’t play as a starter. The track record and results are plenty long enough to see that.
Kopech’s “stuff” plays just fine as a starter… especially when he was throwing 100. His last 7 minor league starts in 2018 (before his TJ surgery) he struck out 59 and walked 4 in 44 innings. Then his first 3 starts in the majors he threw 11 great innings with 1 walk and 9 Ks and 1 run.
He simply has not been able to figure out where the ball is going since he’s come back, and he will suck in the bullpen just as much until he can figure that part out.
Starter vs. Reliever
8.96 vs. 13.03 K/9
4.95 vs. 3.57 BB/9
Kopech’s stuff does not play as a starter. If he hasn’t figured out where pitches are going after 5 years, he never will.
i agree, and the market is just not going to be strong for a guy like him. He would need a pitching coach to look at his mechanics and say “i can fix that” anything short of that and a team is not taking a flyer on him
Rebuilds usually take a lot of work, duh
Seems like a good idea really. Not that they have any starters but their starters (including him) were bad last year too so might as well throw young guys out there and try to help Kopeck gain value and stay healthy.
Rishi: Cease and Giolito would have had much better records last year if it wasn’t for the bullpen. I can’t count how many times they would leave with a lead and the bullpen would blow it. That trend will likely continue with Kopech in the bullpen.
Avenger
“Cease and Giolito would have had much better records last year if it wasn’t for the bullpen. ”
This is one reason why knowledgeable people don’t judge pitchers by win-l9ss record
Lorenzen incoming.
I mean – he has to be, right? If not, it’s going to be a steady dose of ‘openers’.
Big Hurt: They should never have let Clevinger go. I didn’t like it when the Sox got him, but he showed me a lot. He pitched into the eighth inning a number of times. Anything to keep the bullpen off the field.
on a 1 year deal he makes sense for virtually everyone. he is solid out of the bullpen and can start. So bad teams will have a 4-5 ERA guy who can log 150 innings, and contenders have a 5th starter who will actually make the postseason roster as a middle releiver.
That projected rotation in historically bad.
Which of the Sox teams will have the worse starting pitching statistics, Boston or Chicago? At least Chicago has some young options to fall back on should the veterans fail (Thorpe, Irioarte, etc). Bello is the only pitcher below age 25 for Boston who has a chance to be above average. Everyone else is closer to 30 and they have very few prospects outside of Dick Fitz who could come up and make a difference.
Good call by the White Sox to maximize Kopech’s value as an elite bullpen arm vs. a AAAA caliber rotation guy.
“Replacement level” is a WAR of zero. The definition is literally Wins Above Replacement so, no, Snell is not as has not been a replacement level pitcher ever in his career.
Snell is a lot like Cease, huge strike out number, large walk rate. Cease has an excuse though, as the white Sox defense was garbage where Snell pitched in front of a fantastic defense.
Oddly enough, maybe not oddly, but his 2022 season was better than 23 in terms of expected era and FIP.
i think that makes sense, his actual results are probably somewhere in the middle, which would explain why the estimators took the under on his ‘22 and the over on his ‘23 performances
or, i guess, his actual talent level lies somewhere in between. obviously we are discussing the results
Not in Chicago. But they’ve seemingly not gotten the best out of a few pitchers. Kopech really needs a new home.
He may just be a reliever but Glasnow was just a reliever in Pittsburgh. Someone else might have the fix.
That weakens the bullpen lol
Every home game on a Monday the Sox will select a lucky fan from the bleachers to pitch
Old guy: I love that idea. Maybe an 8 year old kid at the game with his team. Him I would watch.
Might be the best move in the long run for both parties involved…
It will be interesting to see if this affects their pursuit of either Snell or Montgomery.
A+
Hilarious.
Give Snell the largest deal in White Sox history!
So they can bump up payroll by 25% and gain a few more very marginal wins?
well if they are lucky- 7ish wins, if you go by the rest of his career 1.
(he basically has 2 Cy young seasons and the rest are replacement level years- mostly due to injury and never finding the zone all year)
That’s a bullish number. With his propensity for walks and soft-contact groundballs, he needs a good defense behind him and a strong catcher who can stop the running game.
painhertz: You mean $75,000.01 for five years?
Funny since its painfully obvious the White Sox are going through another rebuild. Rubbing salt in a wound…
Why not bring Clevinger back? Everyone hates us anyway… He should be cheap and he was the best starter we had last year, including Cease.
With Kopech to the pen, the starting rotation includes five pitchers who weren’t in it to open last season. At least when they traded Cease, they filled the holes at second base and right field. Oh, wait . . . .
Finally, I think the overrated Royals have caught up to the sox
Liberalsteve: Every team in BB has caught up and passed the Sox.
They didn’t have to catch up. They just had to move aside as the White Sox fell.
Caught up? More like became the White Sox with all of the Ex players and org people that Getz hired from KC (or who previously worked with KC).
Trade for Chris Sale, one of the best. Extension, one of the worst.
He still helped the Red Sox win a WS. A win x10 considering the flotsam the White Sox apparently got.
Hopefully this rebuild goes better than the previous one for them.
I hope so.
1984: The last rebuild worked until Reinsdorf hired his buddy tlr to manage the team. That took the Sox to pre-rebuild levels.
That’s some major cope. TLR wasn’t great, but the front office spent poorly, their players were oft injured and many underperformed pre TLR and post TLR.
Hopefully the team doesn’t think that TLR was the only problem and actually learns from the previous mistakes.
TLR was not the whole problem, but the idea of him being there in the first place was. When your owner meddles and stabs the guy in the back that suffered with you through a rebuild only to get you back to the playoffs, TLR was already behind an 8 ball when that went down, never mind he hadn’t managed in 10 years. Thats a long time and you could see the disconnect.. To put the cherry on top of the disaster, he goes and throws one of his players out to get hit (possibly seriously hurt if it was a beanball) because of a stupid unwritten rule.. Yeah, TLR was not the WHOLE reason of the rebuild failing, but was a good chunk of it, directly and indirectly.
nrd1138: You’re absolutely right. Renteria took them to the PO in year three of a five year rebuild, but Reinsdorf fired him and hired tlr with the lame excuse that he was the guy to take them to the next level. Instead, tlr demoralized the players and reversed the rebuild. It’s Reinsdorf’s team and he can do what he wants, but his desire to field such a poor team is disrespectful to the game, the other teams in MLB who are at least TRYING to win, and the fans.
I wonder if they consider moving former Yankee great Deivi Garcia (sarcasm) back to starting, as he has looked great in the pen in the spring and is still only 24 years old? Most likely it would take a build up period and they may just be happy that he’s getting guys out.
Surely Kopech could do better out of the rotation this year then Chris Flexen.
Jeez, one would hope. I mean the Sox brain trust apparently thinks they will somehow get more if they hide him in the BP and I guess have him do long relief?
Yeah it’s a little bit strange in my opinion. At least with Kopech the upside is there. I know Flexen had a decent year a couple of years ago but man did he get rocked last year. Hopefully he bounces back but I’m not overly confident. He doesn’t have the best “stuff” and if he can’t paint the corners and locate it turns into batting practice.
He’s got to honor a new organization and get a fresh start and solid headspace. The Chicago culture and the injuries have hilled his career.
More questionable Getz decisions.
This move came a few years too late. Kopech should have never been moved to the rotation to begin with. He’s never had the stamina to pitch more than a few innings effectively. Plus the injuries should have been a red flag. Hopefully he gets his confidence back and becomes useful as a closer or middle reliever.
Can’t build arm strength when you’re coddled.
Cannot be that good with a goofball like Katz ‘coaching’ him either.
Hilarious. He’s a waste of space on a waste of a franchise.
Would love to see an Elias buy low here. Send them Jud Fabian.
Crochet is the #3 starter and throwing at 98 again.
Don’t forget Nastrini, he looks ready.
Based on what?